This invention relates to a dried non-dairy fat emulsion product suitable for use as a coffee whitener and to the method of producing the product. More particularly, the invention relates to a protein-free dried fat emulsion product which when reconstituted in an aqueous media, such as coffee or tea, forms a stable fat emulsion to effectively whiten the beverage.
Dry, non-dairy coffee whiteners are well-known in the food industry. In preparing such products, various ingredients such as carbohydrate, fat, protein, emulsifier, stabilizing salt, and the like are dissolved and/or dispersed in water and homogenized to provide a liquid emulsion concentrate having a solids content of about 45-70%, and the liquid emulsion concentrate thus formed is spray dried to a moisture content of no more than 5%. The dried product when added to an aqueous media such as coffee or tea forms a reconstituted oil-in-water emulsion which whitens and flavors the beverge. A typical formulation, on a dry weight basis, for a spray-dried coffee whitener is as follows:
______________________________________ Vegetable fat 20-40% Carbohydrate (e.g. corn syrup solids, 50-75% sucrose) Protein (e.g. sodium caseinate) 2-6% Stabilizing salt 1-3% (e.g. dipotassium phosphate) Emulsifier (e.g. mono- and diglycerides, 0.5-2.0% propylene glycol monostearate, etc.) Color q.s. Flavor q.s. Anti-caking agent q.s. ______________________________________
In such dry coffee whitener formulations, the vegetable fat or oil provides whitening effect, body and viscosity. The carbohydrate acts as a carrier for the fat to retard coalescence of the fat and provides some sweetness effect. Emulsifiers are incorporated in the formulation to maintain the fat globules in dispersion when the emulsion concentrate is prepared. The protein, usually sodium caseinate, has been found to be necessary to stabilize the emulsion through the drying step so that when the dried product is reconstituted in coffee, a stable emulsion is provided. In formulations which contain protein, it is also common to include in the product stabilizing salts such as phosphate and citrate salt to improve the colloidal solubility of the protein and reduce the tendency toward feathering.
While the use of protein in the formulation gives stability to the emulsion through the drying step and excellent whitening power to the product, it is disadvantageous in some respects. For example, dried coffee whiteners containing sodium caseinate exhibit feathering in coffee under certain conditions, such as when the water used in making the coffee has a high calcium or magnesium ion content, or when the coffee is very acidic. Moreover, while sodium caseinate is legally defined to be non-dairy, its inclusion in the whitener formulation makes the product unacceptable to some ethnic groups. The use of other water dispersible proteins, such as soy protein, has been less than satisfactory due to off-flavors, feathering of the protein in coffee and other problems.
In recent years there have been a number of attempts to develop commercially acceptable coffee whiteners which are protein-free. The following patents are representative of prior art attempts to produce such a product: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,563,761 to Ellinger; 4,045,589 to Petrowski et al., 4,407,838 to Rule et al.; 4,460,617 to Barndt et al., and 4,242,364 to Buddemeyer et al. These prior art efforts have not been entirely successful in providing a commercially acceptable coffee whitener due to the off-flavors, feathering of the protein in coffee, fat separation, poor whitening properties, and other problems.